[3] As the Giro gained prominence and popularity, the race was lengthened, and the peloton expanded from primarily Italian participation to riders from all over the world.

[3] While the route changes each year, the format of the race stays the same, with at least two time trials, and a passage through the mountains of the Alps, including the Dolomites.

Like the other Grand Tours, the modern editions of the Giro d'Italia normally consist of 21 stages over a 23- or 24-day period that includes two or three rest days.

[10] The idea of holding a bicycle race that navigated around Italy was inspired by the Tour de France and the success that L'Auto had gained from it.

[5] However, after the success La Gazzetta had with creating the Giro di Lombardia and Milan–San Remo, the owner Costamagna decided to go through with the idea.

[5] Prize money was supplied by a casino in San Remo who Francesco Sghirla, a former Gazzetta employee, encouraged to contribute to the race.

Bartali, a conservative, was venerated in the rural, agrarian south, while Coppi, more worldly, secular, innovative in diet and training, was a hero of the industrial north.

Their rivalry started when Coppi, the helper, won the Giro aged 20 and Bartali, the star, marshalled the two men's team to chase him.

At the finish in Bormio, Gaul won ahead of Nencini, with Anquetil losing only 2:34 minutes and retaining the pink jersey by 28 seconds.

[25] Belgian Eddy Merckx won his first Giro d'Italia after winning the twelfth stage's finish atop the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and also regaining the race lead.

[31] Felice Gimondi lost substantial time early on in the race to put him out of contention, while fellow Italian and teammate Gianni Motta tested positive for banned substances and was dismissed from the Giro.

By the third week it seemed as though Belgian rider Johan De Muynck was going to claim victory, but much to the delight of the Tifosi Gimondi rode a very strong final Individual Time Trial and won his third Giro by a very small margin in rather stunning fashion as he was getting older and not even considered a pre-race favorite.

[38] Roche's success would not stop there during the 1987 season, he would go on to win the Tour de France and the men's road race at the World Championships to complete the Triple Crown of Cycling.

Pantani was considered a favorite to win the Giro d'Italia Other contenders included Gotti, Alex Zülle and 1996 winner Pavel Tonkov.

In the seventeenth stage to Selva di Val Gardena, Pantani took the maglia rosa, the leader's jersey, for the first time in his career after attacking Zülle on the Marmolada climb.

[47] In the following stage to Alpe di Pampeago, he finished second behind Tonkov but maintained the general classification lead over him and gained further time on Zülle and Guerini.

Contador also looked to have won the 2011 edition,[54] a race during which Wouter Weylandt suffered a fatal crash on the third stage, but he was later stripped of the title after he was found guilty of doping in the 2010 Tour de France, and runner-up Michele Scarponi was awarded the victory.

Tom Dumoulin won stage 10, a 39.8-kilometre (24.7-mile) individual time trial (ITT) from Foligno to Montefalco, to take the overall race lead by 2 minutes and 23 seconds over Quintana.

[56] Dumoulin won Stage 14, which featured a mountain top finish at Santuario di Oropa to extend his lead over Quintana by a further 14 seconds.

Dumoulin defended his lead until the stage 19 mountain finish in Piancavallo, where he crossed the line over a minute behind Quintana, the new race leader.

[58] However, Dumoulin's performance on stage 21, a 29-kilometre (18-mile) individual time trial from Monza Circuit to Milan in which he finished second, took him from fourth to first place in the general classification.

However, on Stage 19, Yates cracked and Chris Froome then launched an audacious 80 km solo breakaway, attacking the small group of leaders including Dumoulin on the Cima Coppi of the 2018 Giro, the graveled climb of the Colle delle Finestre, he continued to extend his lead over the Sestriere and to the summit finish of Bardonecchia and overturned a more than three minute deficit to take both the pink jersey, the Cima Coppi prize and the mountains classification.

[61] The 2023 Giro d'Italia was won by Slovenian Primož Roglič, who took the lead from Geraint Thomas on the penultimate stage, a mountain time trial to Monte Lussari, near the Italian border with Slovenia.

[65] The winning margin of 9:56 over his closest competitor, Daniel Martínez was the biggest since the 1965 edition and the fourth largest in the post-World War II era.

Other awards include the Combativity classification, which was a compilation of points gained for position on crossing intermediate sprints, mountain passes and stage finishes.

The Giro d'Italia contains either 21 or 20 stages and a prologue (an individual time trial under 8 km (5 mi) in length) and two or three rest days.

[95][99] The Giro takes place mainly in Italy, but some stages have departure or conclusion locations in, or pass through, the neighboring countries of San Marino, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and Vatican City State.

The other countries visited, usually in connection with the opening stages of the race, are Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Netherlands, Monaco and the United Kingdom.

[100] For nearly half a century, the Giro started and finished by Milan, the city where the headquarters of the Gazzetta dello Sport is located.

The start of the Giro d'Italia (La Grande Partenza) is a significant occasion and cities invest heavily, hoping to recoup the cost in tourism, exposure and other benefits: Denmark spent an estimated $3.86 million to host the opening stages of the 2012 edition.